'Dangerous' Dome-Kwabenya roads to be rehabilitated at GHS19m

A year from now, residents of Dome-Kwabenya in the Ga East Municipality, will no longer go through the daily ritual of plying on bad roads.

This follows the award of some major roads that are in a very deplorable state to a contractor, Ghacos Ghana Limited.

The scope of work to be carried out by the contractor includes; Construction of 1.5km of dual carriage way from Atomic Roundabout to Taifa with provision for roadside drains; Construction of ancillary roads to improve traffic management and safety in the area; Construction of 750 meters of storm drainage works to reduce the perennial flooding within the area; Construction of walkways along the roads to improve pedestrians safety; and streetlights to improve visibility at night for both motorists and pedestrians.

Other roads earmarked to benefit from this facelift are Old and New Agbogba, Hatso, Dome Pillar 2 (Auntie Mary), Kwabenya and Abokobi. The cost of the project is GH₵19.093million with a contract duration of twelve (12) months.

Commenting on the road project at a sod-cutting ceremony to commence work on the project Wednesday, the Second Deputy Majority Leader and MP for the area, Sarah Adwoa Safo lauded her constituents for enduring the pain of plying on such bad roads.

“As a Member of Parliament of this constituency, I am very much aware of the negative effects our bad road network has on the operations of residents of the constituency; drivers who ply on these bad roads charge you extra for the simple reason that they have to frequently visit the workshop because of the persistent breakdown of their vehicles as a result of these bad road networks.

“I also pity your long stay under the scorching sun in search of a vehicle as a result of some drivers’ reluctance to ply the roads because of their bad nature," she said.

She added: “My ears have been on the grounds listening to the cries of the people and anytime I hear them talking about the dilapidated state of the roads, my heart throbs for the people. Today, we are fortunate we have a President, His Excellency, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who has the ears to listen to the cries of his people. I knocked on his door and presented our case of the dilapidated state of our road networks and he has responded positively.”

Commenting further, Adwoa Safo, who is also the Minister of State in charge of Public Procurement, urged the residents to fully cooperate with the contractor and remove all unwanted structures from the road network to enable him to perform his task.

Delivering the keynote address, Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Atta, told the gathering that roads within the Dome-Kwabenya constituency are very important ones since they serve as a link to some other important roads including the main Accra-Kumasi highway and therefore, its deplorable nature was of very much concern to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

“This is unprecedented. This is the first of its kind not only in the Greater Accra Region but for the whole country. This is going to open the gateway for a number of road projects under the leadership of his Excellency of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo”, he stated.

Competitive Bidding

The project, he said, was awarded to M. F. Ghacos Ghana Limited after going through a very rigid national competitive bidding process, stressing that under the leadership of President Akufo-Addo, “sole sourcing, selective tendering, price quotation and the likes are a thing of the past unless it is absolutely necessary as prescribed under the Public Procurement Act.

"Otherwise, all road contracts, and for that matter, all contracts will be subjected to competitive bidding for us to get the best contractor to undertake any job for Ghanaians to have value for money.”

Prompt payment

Mr. Amoako-Attah bemoaned the deplorable state of most road networks across the country and attributed it to the non-payment of contractors.

However, he promised that under the leadership of President Akufo-Addo, any contract that will be awarded will be backed with money to ensure prompt payment to the contractor after delivery.

While appealing to residents of the area, especially, those who have encroached on the road corridor to give way to the contractor, he also tasked the monitoring team of the Ministry of Roads and Highways and the Department of Urban Roads to ensure that the project is undertaken to the standards and specification of the Ministry.

“As I have told you, the contract duration is twelve months and the contractor will be under constant pressure to carry out his work so that you the people of Kwabenya and all those who ply that road will enjoy the benefit of the road. If anybody puts impediments on the way of the contractor, I will prove to the person that the laws of this nation are greater than him. Anybody who will fail to give way, the law will be applied and there will be a way but we don’t want it in that manner. What is going to be undertaken is for the benefit of all the people and so let us all cooperate with the contractor. Nobody and nothing should obstruct the contractor because the government will not tolerate such a thing. This will ensure that the works are carried out expeditiously without any unnecessary disturbances from anybody," he said.

Value for money

Speaking further on the project, Mr. Amoako-Attah admonished the contractor to work and deliver on time since there will be no room to entertain excuses and delay of the work.

“We are going to pay for these roads with taxes paid by all Ghanaians and all of us here and woe betides the contractor if he should joke with this project.

"Ghanaians must be given value for money. The Government as the employer will do its best of this arrangement,” he stressed.